Dave Haley, Pete Tarrier, Justin McIsaac & Sean Sendall hand out their post-season awards Photo by Wayne McElreavy
 

Dave Haley of NHsportspage & ESPN NH
 
Player of the Year
 
Division I

1.Connor Bourque of Goffstown
2.J.T Hiscoe of Bishop Guertin
3.Nick Leahy of Bedford

Comments: Casey Gervais, Brett Datillio, Mike Lewis, Hunter Long, Tyler Furey…you could make a very strong argument for any one of them…this was a division loaded with talent.

Division II

1.Victor Pizzoti of Windham
2.Will Pollard of Kennett
3.(Tie) Stephen Hedberg of St. Thomas & Ryan Milliken of Lebanon

Comments: Pollard was my player of the year a year ago when no one else was giving it to him so you don’t need to explain his value to me. In the end Pizzoti was the best defensive player in the division and one of the leading rushers for a team that fell four points short of back to back titles.
 
Division III

1.Noah Wade of Newport
2.Christian Serrano of Winnisquam
3.Nick Brothers of Inter-Lakes-Moultonborough

 Comments: You could easily add Chris Robbins & CJ Lawrence to this list…Serrano was terrific all season long but Wade was other worldly. Expect to see both of them in the CHAD game this summer.
 
Coach of the Year

 Division I

1.Justin Hufft of Goffstown
2.Dante Laurendi of Nashua North
3.Derek Stank of Bedford

  Comments: Goffstown didn’t sneak up on anyone, we knew they were a contender way back in August. Hufft did a terrific job of making sure they focused week to week and not just about trips to Durham and 1-93 Power Polls.

  Division II

1.Mike Lochman of Souhegan
2.Keith Jones of Milford
3.Eric Cumba of St. Thomas

   Comments: Lochman has built the Sabers back up and with him at the helm Souhegan is back to being a yearly contender in Division II.
 
  Division III

1.Pat Riberdy of Winnisquam
2.Paul Silva of Stevens
3.Matt Shaw of Bishop Brady

 Comments: The Bears got clipped on one bad afternoon in the semifinals but they were terrific up until that game. Riberdy pulled all the right strings and it was a season to remember for Winnisquam football.
 -
Justin McIsaac of NHsportspage and WTSN

Division 3

PLAYERS 

1- Noah Wade, Newport. Is 275 and 5 TD’s in a title game good?
2- Christian Serrano, Winnisquam – lead in passing yards, 4th in rushing
 3- Christopher Robbins, Bow Over 1K, 13 TD’s, great year
 
 
COACHES
 
1- Larry McElreavy Newport – when you go unbeaten and win  the title, I give you coach of the year
2- Jon Francis IL/M  Only one team was better
 3-Paul Silva, Stevens   Had to revamp the whole team mid-stream, made the playoffs
 
 
Division 2
 
1-Stephen Hedberg, STA  Finished with 30 TD’s, could’ve had 60
 2- Victor Pizzatti, Windham  not flashy, but everywhere for the Jags
 3- Will Pollard, Kennett Great year and career for the Eagles
 
 
Coaches: 
 
 1. Eric Cumba, STA – unbeaten, state champs
 2. Bill Raycraft, Windham  - Game plan in the title game nearly pulled off the shocker
 3.Rod McQuarrie John Stark – Generals a schedule quirk and a few plays from the playoffs
 
 
Division 1
 
 1- Connor Bourque Goffstown – Dominant season for the Grizz, he led them
 2- JT Hiscoe, BG – A ton of TD’s in the new BG offense
 3- Connor Robert, Bedford  Throwing and running, he did it all
 
 
Coaches:
 
1- Justin Huft, Goffstown – Unbeaten, state title, named Justin, A lot to like.
2- Derek Stank, Bedford  - Big shoes to fill, did a great job with the Bulldogs
3- Bill Ball, Exeter – an unexpected run to the finals? We might take Bill Ball for granted 
-


Pete Tarrier of NHsportspage and ESPN NH
 
D1 Player of the Year
 
Connor Bourque-Goffstown…the 7 TD game vs Central, the game-winning 70 TD RUN vs Bedford, a 211 yard 3 TD performance in the Championship Game…just a few of the moments that made Connor Bourque my Player of the Year!

 JT Hiscoe-Bishop Guertin…this kid threw for just under 2500 yards and had 32 TD passes for a very dangerous Cardinals offense.  Had Hiscoe and company drawn anybody other than Bedford (or Goffstown) in the 1st round of the playoffs they probably would have advanced.
 
Hunter Long-Exeter…he may not have the gaudy stats of the other 2 guys I listed and a bunch of others who didn’t make my Top 3, but if you ask coaches around D1 I bet they would say Exeter’s #84 was a player they had to game plan around.
 
D1 Coach of the Year

Justin Hufft-Goffstown…one of the most humble coaches I have ever met, he’s probably still downplaying how good his team is even after rolling to an unbeaten season!
 
D2 Player of the Year
 
Stevie Hedberg-St Thomas…if his team didn’t blow EVERYONE out(except Windham in the title game) he would have easily broken his TD Pass record of 35 he set last year as a junior.  Playing basically half the game all year long he still finished with 30 passing TDs.
 
Will Pollard-Kennett…the North Conway QB is somewhat unknown because of the geographic location of his school, but those that didn’t see him play missed out on a player that could throw laser beams down the field as well as tuck it and run for a score no matter where he was on the field.
 
Ryan Milliken-Lebanon…another kid who probably doesn’t get the attention/publicity he deserves because of where he plays…no offense to Lebanon, it’s just the southern NH media just doesn’t get the chance to see many Raiders games.
 
D2 Coach of the Year

Rod McQuarrie-John Stark…it’s too bad the Generals got squeezed out of the playoffs on a weird scheduling technicality, but that doesn’t take away the good work McQuarrie did with a program that hasn’t had much to cheer about since its inception.
 
D3 Player of the Year

Noah Wade-Newport…Wade capped an amazing season with a HUGE 274 rushing yard and 5 TD Championship Game performance for the Tigers.  For a small and slender kid he was able to stay relatively healthy this season…and that’s because defenders rarely could get a hand on him!
 
Christian Serrano-Winnisquam…I saw Chris at UNH this past weekend with some of his Bears teammates.  He was still trying to figure out how his dream season was ended in the Semifinal Round.  A true dual threat to run or throw, his insertion into the QB position this year made you wonder why he wasn’t playing there earlier in his career.
 
Nick Brothers-Interlakes/Moultonborough…the elder Brothers brother was the best player on the 2nd best team in D3.  The Lakers were able to pile up the points this season because they had a lot of weapons, but Nick Brothers was the most dangerous of them all.
 
D3 Coach of the Year

Larry McElreavy-Newport…the veteran Tigers coach was a head coach in College in the 80s(New Haven & Columbia) when I was still in high school.  He played at UNH in the late 60s so it was fitting that he won a title in Durham after returning to coach at Newport.
 

Sean Sendall of ESPN NH
 
Division I

Player of the Year

1. Connor Bourque - Best player on the best team who always stepped up in the big moments:  game winning score on a 70yd TD run against Bedford in the Semis and a stud game in the Championship against a defense that didn't allow Pinkerton rushers to do a damn thing. 
2. JT Hiscoe
3. Justin Grassini

     Numbers 1 and 2 were easy for me.  Picking a third was not.  I contemplated Duval (see below), Mike Lewis from Winnacunnet, Hunter Long (if you're good enough to convince Bill Ball to throw the football then you deserve recognition, plus I still can't wrap my head around that catch in the championship game), and Ian Routier because he was the best linebacker I saw all season.

  Honorable Mention:  Andrew Duval did everything for Goffstown.  Defensively in the backfield, receiving the ball and rushing on motion plays.  Not to mention his return game.  If we had an award for, to borrow a baseball term, a five-tool player, he would get the nod.
 
Coach of the Year

Justin Huft - It's not easy to complete an undefeated season, although the three champions may have proved that theory wrong this year.  This award is a culmination of the past four years, grooming this group for something never done in the high school's history.

This was actually a bit tough.  I think Moore did a great job in his first year at BG, as did Jackson in Merrimack and Stank in Bedford.
 
Division II
 
Player of the Year

1. Stephen Hedberg - He may not have done much in the Championship game, but he was the leader of the most potent offense all season.
2. Garrett Macomber - Plymouth had some great wins against tough teams, but played up and down to the competition, losing to some teams that they shouldn't have in tight games.  To borrow from my man Jon Gruden:  This guy did it all for his football team.
3. Will Pollard- Kennett
  Honorable Mention:  Hard not to have Dan Spezzaferri in the top three, and he nearly was for me.  His numbers were fantastic, but he didn't have any big wins to notch on his belt.  Number one was a pretty easy pick, but I saw three players for the final two spots and Spezz (if this is not his nickname is damn well should be) came up just short.

Coach of the Year

Eric Cumba of St. Thomas - Really the same reasons as Huft in DI.
 
Division III
 
Player of the Year

1. Noah Wade - Dominated the Division.  Look no further than the two five-TD performances he had against the runners-up this season.
2. Christian Serrano - Most other seasons, a duel threat QB like this would be a run-away for the PoY Award.
3. Nick Brothers
 
  Notes:  This one was pretty clear cut for me.  I think a clear fourth is Bow's Chris Robbins.

Coach of the Year

Larry McElreavy - I know, I know, I picked all of the state champions; however, they were all undefeated, which speaks heavily to coaching and keeping a group of teenagers heads' on straight.  Jon Francis also deserves some recognition for making the proper adjustments on and off the field following their regular season loss to Newport.